Quilt (Baltimore album quilt)

Description

This Baltimore album quilt has sixteen appliqué blocks bordered with turkey red cotton. Most of the blocks feature appliqué designs commonly found in the Baltimore album quilts of the 1840s and 1850s, including cornucopias, bouquets and baskets of flowers, birds, wreaths, and patriotic symbols. This quilt, however, features two unusual images in the top two center blocks. The center left block depicts a man on a horse drawn cart transporting bottled goods, possibly beer. The center right block shows a scene with a behatted man carrying a pick on which a shovel and a pair of boots hang. The words “Oh! Susanna don’t you cry for me” emerge from his mouth. To his right is a woman, dressed in a yellow jacket and multi-patterned skirt cries into her hands. A dog nips at his feet, saying “come back! Come back!” Along the top of the block appears the name “GEHRING” and along the bottom, “OFF FOR CALIFORNIA.” The second “F” in “OFF” appears much smaller than the rest of the letters, likely added last in error. Baltimore album quilts were usually made by groups of women for a recipient they knew well. This quilt is thought to be made for Sophia Busch Miller, possibly as a wedding gift for her marriage to Jacob W. Miller in 1848. Written in 1847, its racist original lyrics were inspired and popularized by minstrel shows. While the song’s themes of travel quickly became associated with westward migration, it is more likely these blocks reflect aspects of popular culture in the late 1840s rather than evidence of a family’s actual migration west.